Oysters

[L Verge]

I know of very few Marylanders who did not/do not enjoy oysters - if they are prepared properly. For myself, I have tried oysters on the half-shell and oysters Rockefeller several times and cannot acquire a taste for them, no matter how many condiments are recommended. Now, fried oysters, steamed oysters, oyster stew are another matter! Fried oysters are my favorite. When I was a child, they were plentiful enough that we would pat three and four of them together to form one fried "glob." The scarcity today causes restaurants to fry them individually, but they are still delicious. Just hand me a basket of them and a bottle of ketchup or cocktail sauce!

As for the question about why everything is fried, I can't answer that other than to say "It's how Southerners were raised." Notice I use the word "were" because the health fanatics are really putting the brakes on fried foods today. I suspect that the frying technique came from the farmers in the South raising an abundance of hogs that were butchered after the first heavy frost and every part used in some manner (even bladders used in covering canning jars or as "balloons" for the children's delight). The rendering of the fat created a lot of lard that could fry a lot of things.

Eva, I really got an education with your Roman lesson on oysters. As for not eating them in months without Rs, I was always told that oysters were best when coming from cool waters. May-August in Maryland means warm waters.